Kind of developing a bit of a low gain obsession thing.
Kind of mainly related to recording guitars. It is real easy to get what i want if i can run a nonmaster tube amp into breakup, but i really do most of my recording later at night these days and it often isn't an option.
Tried a lot a lot a lot of different circuits and concepts but have had a lot of trouble getting something working properly that sounds right, FEELS right, and
records right. Eventually wound up working my way through a lot of ODs and was quite happy to come across the Paul C Timmy circuit.
Anyhow, been relying pretty heavily on the Timmy for a few years now, actually built two different ones for myself. It is basically a really great EQ attached to a powerful clean boost, with an additional nicely designed overdrive element. So far, probably the best OD i have found.
Weirdly, my two timmy builds sound kind of a lot different from each other. The first one(on the left, in a box with a Zvex Box Of Rock copy) is pure gold, the second one has most of the elements in place, but the clipping/distortion is much more pronounced with some uglier types of artifacts audible. More like a tubescreamer or some other type of distortion, and less like my first timmy build which i am starting to think always had something wrong with it maybe the IC or something, which caused it to sound so much better. Unfortunately, Timmy Build #1 was done a long long time ago, on vero, and with an amusing variety of shitty parts, and now it is starting to fall apart a bit, like doesn't always turn on(not switch related) and sometimes makes some pretty special "my caps all need replacing" sorts of sounds. That is actually what got me to build #2, but after finding that it didn't sound the same, and then spending a lot of time trying to change things out to get it to sound the same, i sort of now have given up and decided that there must have been something always a bit wrong with #1, just, in a very useful way.
So anyhow, while i try to trace what the mystery of Timmy Build #1 might be so that i can do it again on purpose, i need a new low gainer solution. Timmy Build #2 is okay, and i have been using it for pretty much everything for the last few months since #1 started to shit out, but it definitely isn't 100% what i am looking for.
Basically, i spend way too many hours watching pedal demos on youtube looking for starting points. Favorite almost-rights so far have been: the Timmy, the Box Of Rock set low, the Crowther Hotcake, the Nobels ODR-1 set low, and that is kind of about it.
The hotcake sounds a lot better into a loud amp too which kind of rules it out here(as an aside, it is maybe the nicest boost i have found into a voxy amp, and it has the additional feature of suddenly and unexpectedly turning into a silly and masssive dark fuzz with the gain maxxed.).
The Box of rock is more suited to mid gainy types of things, and even with the gain low has a bit too much crunch. Very natural about how it does it, just a bit too much dirt for my porpoise. I ended up deciding that i just don't like how FETs clip at low volume. I think that he Box Of Rock is one of those that kind of gets away with it a bit more just because it is kind of voiced pretty dark, which can hide some nastiness in clipping stages.
The ODR-1 is kind of similar in that it is really best suited as a mid- to heavier- gainer. A little too dark as a low gainer for me, though the clipping sound is exxxxcellent. Again though, probably a lot of that with this pedal though is the same filtering that makes it dark, is what is removing the bright and crusties from the breakup element. OD pedals at lower volumes are such a balancing act.
The Timmy is still the closest to what i want though. I breadboarded it and fucked around with it a lot of different ways though to try other things, and still haven't been able to get it all the way there.
Decided to look a little harder for something different.